UAMS studies Northwest Arkansas' minority health disparities

CDC grant aimed toward Marshallese, Hispanic communities

FAYETTEVILLE -- Community leaders heard Wednesday how a $2.99 million grant can improve the health of more than 75,000 Northwest Arkansas residents.

About 110 people attended the community outreach meeting to learn about the grant aimed at addressing health disparities in the Hispanic and Marshallese communities in Benton and Washington counties. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention awarded the three-year grant to the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in September.

At A Glance

Grant partners

The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences is working with several community organizations as it implements its 3-year, $2.99 million Centers for Disease Control and Prevention grant. The grant addresses health dispariteis in the Hispanic and Marshallese communites in Benton and Washington counties. The advisory board members include members from:

• University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences Northwest

• Arkansas Department of Health

• Feed Communities

• Endeavor Foundation

• Northwest Arkansas Council

• Arkansas Coalition of Marshallese

• Gaps in Services to the Marshallese Task Force

• Univision

• Arkansas League of United Latin American Citizens

• Fayetteville and Springdale Family Medical Centers

Source: University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences

"We think health disparities is a natural fit for us," said Dr. Peter Kohler, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences Northwest vice chancellor.

The CDC describes "health disparities" as preventable differences in the burden of disease, injury, violence or opportunities to achieve optimal health experienced by socially disadvantaged populations.

Pearl McElfish, the school's northwest director of research, said an estimated 10,000 Marshallese and 65,000 Hispanic persons live in Northwest Arkansas.

The university is using the grant to fund two main areas: increasing access to chronic disease prevention, risk reduction and management through clinical and community links and increasing access to healthy food and beverage options.

Working with existing groups is key, McElfish said.

Ray Hernandez, president of the Northwest Arkansas chapter of the League of United Latin American Citizens, said he has been involved with focus groups and serves an advisory role in the project.

"We're looking at programs to make sure they dovetail with other programs already in place," he said.

The grant's community component will focus on work sites, community groups and health care facilities.

Study workers identified the poultry industry as a major employer of Hispanic and Marshallese people. They are working with small and large area employers developing screening events on site and other low- or no-cost wellness programs.

Lisa Smith, a project manager, said she will build relationship with faith-based and community organizations to learn the best ways to reach out to the minority groups.

"There is a lack of knowledge and knowledge is empowerment," she said.

The grant will also pay for training at Northwest Arkansas health facilities to increase cultural knowledge among health workers that serve the Hispanic and Marshallese populations. Washington Regional Medical Center in Fayetteville is scheduled for the first training in March.

Feed Communities, a nonprofit organization in Fayetteville that works to alleviate hunger and increase healthy food access, is handling the healthy food side of the program.

Denise Garner, the group's founder and president, said it started working with the medical school about four weeks ago. Feed Communities will use programs in place across the area as a basis for focusing on the Hispanic and Marshallese populations, she said.

"We'll look at nutrition and healthy foods, but also from a cultural perspective," Garner said. "A lot of the programs we have in place can provide us data."

The group is examining use of more community gardens and identifying community meals and food distribution centers used by the minority groups, she said.

Kohler said the grant can't be used to provide any direct care but works in coordination with other projects under way at the school. The Northwest Arkansas research program began two years ago and also received a $2.1 million grant from the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute last year to identify how to improve diabetes self-management programs for the Marshallese community.

An estimated 25 percent to 40 percent of Marshallese adults living in Northwest Arkansas have Type II diabetes, McElfish said.

University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences Northwest is also providing some clinical care at the student-led North Street Clinic on the Fayetteville campus that opened in December.

The clinic offers health services for the Marshallese community while providing education opportunities for medical students, Kohler said.

He volunteers at the clinic once a week and said he recently treated a Marshallese patient who had only been in the United States a short time. The visit pointed out some cultural differences, he said.

"She told me, through a translator, that I was asking a lot of questions," he said.

McElfish said one goal is to increase understanding of health disparities to students at an early stage.

"We hope to capture their hearts now," she said.

NW News on 01/29/2015

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